You’re No Good– Lies of the Enemy #28– Purity 1040

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of an asphalt pathway running into the distance surrounded by vibrant green trees under a blue sky comes to us from Kat Flynn Clark, my sister-in-law, who made the best of a bad situ— of the bad situation of having to take my brother Matt to his physical therapy appointment following his hip replacement surgery by getting in a workout of her own on the rail trail that just happened to run behind the doctor's office. Well, it's Thursday, and I share Kat's rail trail pathway photo as a visual reminder or encouragement to stay on or get on, uh, the path of Christian discipleship. My brother and sister-in-law's situation actually points to some principles that we can apply to our Christian walk and that relate to recovery. Which I spoke on last night at Starpoint Church's Celebrate Freedom growth group. I share photos of Pathways, uh, on Thursdays, um, because Thursday was the night that I originally went into Christian recovery and served at the recovery and discipleship ministries I taught at and eventually directed at my old church. But since going, uh, since migrating to Starpoint Church after my marriage, I have now led discipleship ministry on Tuesdays, and after last night, I've led a recovery/discipleship ministry on Wednesday night. So as much as Thursdays are Pathway Photo Days, my winding path properly reflects um, that the, the fact that our walk with the Lord really is 24/7, and changes are to be expected as we keep walking and talking with God. But back to Matt— Cat and Matt's story. Uh, Matt is my eldest brother, and, and he will be 55, uh, in September. Um, I don't know the underlying causes of his need for hip replacement surgery, but I do know that he was suffering a significant amount amount of pain, which led to his current course of treatment. While I don't know his prognosis either, we can assume that his surgery was successful and that an adherence to the physical therapy will result in healing and recovery. In Matt's story, he had to recognize the problem and take action to correct it. If I recall correctly, when I last saw him in December, uh, there were concerns about his hip and now he's got it fixed. Being a guy and knowing my family's penchant for stubbornness, I have to imagine that my brother probably had a significant period of suffering in silence and living in denial, as Matt is fiercely independent and was somewhat proud of his physical health. Plus, Matt is only 54 years old, and I can only imagine how there must have been a lot of rejection of the idea that he would need to get a and get hip replacement surgery. But in the end, my brother, uh, my brother did what was best for his health and humbled himself to rely on others— the doctors, physical therapists, and his wife— in order to get well again. Our bodies and our emotions tell us when we need help, and I'm here to encourage everyone when things aren't right to say something and to someone and to get the help you need. As for Kat, she is helping her husband with his recovery, but even in meeting that responsibility or burden, uh, she also decided to take care of herself by going for a walk and enjoying the pleasant weather. Kat's example shows us to make the best of our situations and to care for ourselves by finding joy where we can. Well, I didn't really think of Matt and Kat last night as I taught at Celebrate Freedom. I, I could have, because I was encouraging the group to recognize their situations, to step out of denial, and to utilize the group, uh, to receive the help and support available to them, and to be intentional about establishing a daily spiritual practice where they do some self-care by practicing quieting, appreciation, and renewing their minds with what the truth of God— God's word says about them, of who they are in Christ. I also encourage them to attach relationally with the group members, to share one another's burdens, and to attach to God as their Lord, Savior, Helper, and Friend. I especially try to encourage the group in this last point because often our ideas about God or our relationship with him are not based on truth. As quote-unquote sinners saved by grace, many Christians think that God is mad at them or barely tolerates them. They believe the lie that even though they are Christians, they are still no good and are not worthy of God or anyone else's love. Uh, and this brings us to our current series, The Lies of the Enemy, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today's big lie is lie number 28. You're no good. This lie is deeply rooted in those of us that have low self-esteem and/or a history of bad behavior. We know our thoughts and we know the bad things we've done. We may consider ourselves evil, twisted, broken, or dysfunctional, as we may have a history of disappointments, rejections, or failures. We may think of ourselves as criminal-minded, we have done things our way rather than God's ways or the ways of a law-abiding citizen. No matter what specific things we have done or thought about doing, our final assessment of ourselves is that we are just no good. You're no good, you're no good, you're no good, baby, you're no good. I'm gonna say it again. Anyway, I'm not gonna Sing it again or say it again. Um, now I will grant that our permanent records and our past thought life would clearly, you know, could clearly indicate that we were no good. And I will allow, uh, that your present thoughts and actions, um, could be added to the testimony that you're no good. You know, it could be. But In Christ, you are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Also, Romans 8:1 tells us, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So If you put your faith in Christ, you are a new creation, and there is no condemnation if you walk in the Spirit. Although we were made brand new the moment we put our faith in Christ, we won't know it unless we make the decision to start thinking and living according to our new life as Christians. Those impure, foul, evil, sarcastic, or negative thoughts we have have to go. Those selfish or sinful attitudes and actions need to leave. Our old thoughts and behaviors need to pass away. Otherwise, the enemy has a foothold in our lives and strongholds in our minds that pollute us with toxic thoughts that cause us to experience frustration, anger, anxiety, and depression and that will drive us to our old sinful ways of coping. But if we renew our minds by thinking about what is good, pure, and holy, and accept, uh, what God— God's word says about who we are in Christ, our thoughts will tell us that the old person we once were is dead and gone. And all the condemnation that we used to lay on ourselves is no longer true. In Christ, all our sin is forgiven—past, present, and future—and we have the assurance of eternal life in his kingdom. But we won't experience the peace and joy that flow from our new spiritual lives if we don't: A) believe it, and B) live according to it. We need to renew our minds to embrace the blessed lives that we have been given. And to walk out of the shadows of our past by walking into the light of living a simple and righteous life of truth and integrity. When we think on the truth and live according to the truth of who we are in Christ, our thoughts, emotions, and actions will reflect the light that the Lord has given us through his love for us. Our new lives in Christ will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control, we will experience the abundant life here and now that Christ came to give us. So don't believe the lie that you're no good. You are a new creation in Christ. So think on it, believe it, and live it by walking and talking with God every day. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Romans 10:15, and the word of God says, um, and how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scriptures say, how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news. Today's verse encourages us that we become beautiful in the eyes of the those who receive the good news of salvation and freedom that come through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Our resource only shared the last part of this verse on the beautiful feet of the messengers who bring good news, and it is true, our message is beautiful and we can't help but be beautiful to those who desperately need it. So preach the gospel! But I also want to comment on the first part of the verse on being sent. Christ's commission to go and make disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 is for all of us, so we, so we should consider ourselves quote-unquote sent. We don't need permission or special, a special calling or equipping to share the good news. The best apologetic is telling people what the Lord has done for me. Tell people your salvation story. Tell people how God has helped you. Tell people how God has changed you. Tell people how God has worked in other people's lives that you know about. All of these little testimonies are beautiful, true stories of the living God alive and well in the world. They give glory to God and could move someone to put their faith in Jesus. So consider yourself sent and equipped No one has your experience. And go show the world your beautiful feet by telling everyone of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the Word of God and according to what you have seen, heard, and experienced in your walk of faith. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Satan, Demons, and Satanism: A Sinister Reality by June Hunt. And today we continue sharing from, uh, Section 4, Steps to Solutions, and Section C, which says, see how Satan's power is limited. And so if you want to see how Satan's power is limited and see some scripture to back that up, uh, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see that resource. At the end of today's blog post. And the final question they have on this resource is, does Satan have the power to know your thoughts? So if you want to know the answer to that question, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see it just above all the, uh, all the encouragements to join our, uh, Spirit— our, our discipleship series of classes that we taught and that are available on the podcast. We've taught classes on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ, available on the podcast and our YouTube channel for your listening and equipping pleasure. We encourage you to— if you'd like to take a deeper dive, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com to receive the class materials that I handed out when I taught those classes back in 2021. Um, let's see, also obviously we, uh, we revere the word of God and we encourage your study of it so you can renew your mind with that truth and be encouraged every day. We encourage Bible study here on the podcast, um, basically by providing the Bible study we do every week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti. So if you wanted to, um, hear I believe that our latest Bible study was on the simplicity of the gospel, and, um, wasn't really a, you know, it was more of a reflection on our Christian living, um, than the simplicity of the gospel of you need to just simply accept Jesus. You know, that's a good, that's a necessary and, you know, essential first step, but then, then what? And that was the question I asked when I got saved. Okay, I heard this awesome message that dragged me out of the darkness of false religion, and I put my faith in Jesus. Um, now what? I'm a big mess, you know, my life's a mess. What do I do? Well, the Lord encouraged me to read his word. I wanted to know him. I wanted to know that this, this Christian faith was the real deal, and I wasn't just, you know, you know, you know, having blind faith, um, to, to comfort myself. I wanted to make sure it was true and, and that I wasn't, you know, crazy, that I wanted to make sure I wasn't some religious nut, um, that I was, you know, following a faith that was the truth. And, you know, through much investigation and everything, um I've discovered that the gospel is true, just as I thought it was true the moment I accepted it. And God has revealed himself in so many ways since that first day of my salvation, and he's encouraged me to keep on walking and talking with him and encourage other people to know him more and, you know, surrender their lives to his will for their life. And that's why we're, we're doing the podcast, because we discovered the peace and joy that comes from living you know, with God, basically letting him guide and guide our path as best we can. Um, like I said, we usually did discipleship or recovery ministry on Thursdays. Well, that paradigm went, went south, um, because now Thursdays I do, uh, uh, prayer, prayer ministry cohort with Deeper Walk International. So are you gonna— Thursday's done for the next year, um, as I get equipped further in that in that regard. So what do you do? Well, uh, Tuesday nights were good. Um, yeah, Tuesdays were good for, for that. I don't know why I switched to Tuesdays last year. I don't recall, um, for the Freedom in Christ stuff I did. Um, maybe it was this Deeper Walk thing that made it happen. I don't know. I can't recall. It all gets jumbled. And then Wednesday night was my— I, I decided on Wednesday night for the recovery ministry because maybe I do ministry 3 nights a week. I didn't know. Um, I don't think— I currently don't think that's going to happen. Um, I think I'm just gonna do Wednesdays and Thursdays. And until this, uh, we'll see how, how this goes. I might feel differently in the fall when Freedom in Christ starts their online classes again. But for right now, I think I want to get through my prayer ministry training completely before I entertain doing online discipleship and in-person live discipleship at my local church. And I was very pleased last night, as a good, good group showed up, and from all accounts It was, it was well received. So we're, we're very encouraged. And now that we know what we're doing in the building and know where things are, you know, it's here we go, you know, we're doing, you know, so I guess we're doing this. Yeah, we're doing this and, uh, we're, we're excited about it. So that's that. Uh, and just, you know, that's just a very small part of my life is I have a 9 to 5. But that's the, that's the part of the life that gives me, gives me joy, as does this part of my life, you know, early mornings and afterwards. In the meantime, we have to, you know, make a living, so I have to go off and work. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do when, uh, when we decide to follow you and answer your call and consider ourselves quote unquote sent to go share the good news wherever we go. And, you know, through the way we live our lives. Well, we thank you so much for the ministry you've given us, uh, to be an encourager in all the walks of my life as much as I can. Um, and Lord, we thank you for, um, like-minded people, um, that, that want to share that good news. And we thank you for the people listening or reading today's message, Lord, that you would come alongside them and bless them Uh, come alongside them in their prayer requests. Come alongside them in the recovery and their healing, um, Lord, because we know you're the good physician and you're the teacher. You can heal us and teach us the way to live, um, with joy and peace regardless of our circumstances. And that comes from your presence, as we know you're with us through the way you You care for us. And so, Lord, we just thank you for that. And as always, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, um, open our eyes to the things you want us to see and move our steps into the things you'd have us walk into. As Lord, all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom here on Earth, and, um, we need your help every day with that, um, because we're not perfect people. We're just We're just trying to progress into the people you want us to be, and, um, we need your help with that. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.